BAGHDAD: Thousands of supporters of Iraq’s religious leader Moqtada Sadr stepped up their pressure tactics on Friday with a weekly prayer session in the high-security Green Zone they have occupied for three weeks.

WASHINGTON: Washington said Thursday it was “concerned” by the Israeli government’s forced closure of several Palestinian NGOs operating in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military announced earlier in the day that it had conducted overnight raids of seven organizations in Ramallah, the West Bank city where the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters are located.

RAMALLAH: Israel defied condemnation by the UN and the EU on Thursday by raiding and closing down seven Palestinian rights groups in the West Bank.

Security forces stormed the groups’ offices in Ramallah and seized files, computers and other equipment before sealing off entrances and declaring them permanently closed.

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s public sector and legal system are under growing strain amid widening strike action over the plunging value of salaries in the crisis-hit country.

Hundreds of judges continued their strike on Thursday in protest at having their salaries based on exchange rate of 1,507 Lebanese pounds to the dollar.

Civil servants have also decided to go on strike again for the same reason, despite being granted monthly aid.

ANKARA: Israel and Turkey have announced the upgrading of diplomatic relations and the return of their ambassadors and consuls general after years of strained ties between the two nations. 

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid greeted such a diplomatic breakthrough as an “important asset for regional stability and very important economic news for the citizens of Israel.